Pets at Home boss Lyssa McGowan has promised shoppers a “real step change” with its new app, which will further its aim of creating the world’s best petcare platform.
McGowan said the app would enable shoppers to “do anything you want for your pet, whether that be booking orthopedic surgery, post-surgical consult remotely, managing a nutrition subscription, booking a grooming appointment or going to store to pick up an accessory”.
The new app will also have subscription capabilities, a key growth area for Pets at Home. The retailer already has more than 1.7m subscriptions.
“We’ll bring everything into that one place so you’ll be able to check your vaccinations that your cat has, book a nutrition consult,” she added.
The app come amid a period of investment for Pets at Home, which saw underlying pre-tax profit fall 19.3% to £47.8m in its first half.
However, the retailer maintained its guidance for the year.
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Along with its digital investment, the business also opened a new distribution centre during the half and launched its new Pets brand, bringing its Pes at Home, Vets for Pets and Pet Grooming businesses together under one unified brand.
McGowan said the rebrand has signalled to customers that it is the place to serve all of their pets needs.
Despite the profit dip over the half, Pets at Home exceeded its sales target, with revenue up 6.5% to £774.2m.
McGowan predicted that Christmas this year would be “bigger than ever” for Pets at Home.
She said the retailer had already sold more than 200,000 advent calendars as the cost-of-living did not diminish shoppers appetite to spoil their pets.
“People have said the second to last thing they would cut back on is their pets, just before their kids,” she added.
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